


together

by IronSwordStarShield (SweetFanfics)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Happy Ending, Multi, Post-Canon Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-29 03:04:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18769906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetFanfics/pseuds/IronSwordStarShield
Summary: There’s got to be something I can do. There’s got to be something! I can fix this. I need to fix this. He can’t die! I made a promise! I promised we’d make it out of this alive and he’d go home to his kid!--Really epicly self-indulgent fix-it fic where i toss canon facts the double birdie and swan dive off a cliff





	together

Steve slams mjolnir down on one of Thanos’ beasts and winces at the bright light that flashes in front of his eyes. He hadn’t thought he’d put  _that_ much power into it…

 

But then he realizes…it wasn’t the hammer.

 

He staggers, uncertain of his footing when he realizes that Thanos’ army…is turning to dust. Steve takes a step back, eyes flitting across the battlefield. He sees his fellow Avengers, friends, allies, staring in silent shock as Thanos’ army disappears before their eyes.

 

_They'd done it…_

 

He can’t process their victory even as the thought occurs to him. It’s…it’s too much. It’s unbelievable. Steve turns, dust grinding under his boot hell, sees Thanos staggering, and rushes forward. It’s easier to believe that Thanos is still left standing and that they still haven’t won. 

 

But Steve skids to a halt, adrenaline twisting into something uncomfortable and heavy when even Thanos turns to ash. 

 

 _We did it_.

 

It still doesn’t sink in, that they’ve won. 

 

It’s over.

 

Elation, wild and untamed, starts to swell in him. But it’s cut short when someone cries out nearby. Steve turns just in time to see Pepper falling to her knees next to…

 

“Tony!” Steve breathes out.

 

Of course.  _Of course_ he was the one to do it! The fucking… it makes so much sense. Of  _course_ it was Tony who made it possible! Always lying down on the wire to let everyone else crawl over him. Fucking Tony Stark.

 

Denials bubble up his throat when he sees the state Tony’s in. Pepper’s whispering something to him. He looks in so much  _pain_. Steve feels like someone’s cut his legs out from under him at the sight of Tony. He has to physically look down to make sure his limbs are still there.

 

Tony’s whole right side is…burned. It’s necrotizing before them, turning from red to gray to black. There’s a glazed quality in his eyes when he follows Pepper’s request to look at her.

 

 _There’s got to be something I can do. There’s got to be something! I can fix this. I need to fix this. He can’t die! I made a promise! I promised we’d make it out of this alive and he’d go home to his kid_!

 

But no matter how much his brain screams, Steve’s body refuses to get with the program because what he can do? He’s just a soldier. He’s not genius or wizard where he can whip a solution out of thin air. He doesn’t have anything except a bag full of regrets and broken promises. He’s just a liar.

 

 _Wait_.

 

Mjolnir drops to the ground with a dull thud as Steve scrambles through his uniform pockets. He knows…it’s got to be here somewhere…he’s kept it with him since Tony gave it to him….he’d even asked Dr. Cho if there was… _there_!

 

Steve rushes forward, skidding on his knees as he presses Tony’s old RT against his chest. On top of the flickering reactor there.

 

“FRIDAY,” Steve chokes out. “Use this. It can help. It should help heal him.”

 

“Captain?” the AI asks faintly, like she’s running out of life along with her creator.

 

“ _Please do it_! It can save him!”

 

Steve can see Tony fading away from him and he could almost  _cry_. He’ll never forgive himself if he was too late to save Tony. He’ll never-

 

“Do it!” Pepper instructs.

 

There’s nothing - no noise, no flash, no bang. The RT Tony had slapped in his hands, and Steve had made sure to get modified  _because,_ glows its comforting pale glow. The only indication that  _something_ is happening is the faint ripple that runs over Tony’s body.

 

Steve holds his breath. He doesn’t realize he’s holding Tony’s right hand while Pepper holds Tony’s left. He stares at Tony’s face, looking for a sign… _anything_ to show that the modifications he’d asked Dr. Cho to make to the RT are being implemented. 

 

He’d gone to the doctor asking her if there was some way to fix the RT, to bring it back to full power. Somehow, after months of tinkering, it’d turned into something like a “all heal” potion - Extremis and Tony’s nanotechnology coming together to create an all powerful elixir that could counter just about  _anything_ short of death.

 

But it had all been experimental. More than that? It had been something Steve kept to himself. Shame and guilt over his broken promise to Tony had kept him from confessing to the existence of the modified RT.

 

He’d grateful now for his own foresight…

 

Steve feels Tony’s fingers twitch in his grip and jumps. “Tony?” he asks, blinking the hot tears away. 

 

Another spasm, this one full body. Tony’s entire right side ripples and pulses. An orange glow starts to pulse from under the blackened skin. Next to him, Pepper recognizes the color and whispers, “Steve. What did you  _do_?”

 

“Saved him. I hope.”

 

He hopes, he hopes,  _he hopes so fervently_. More than he’s hoped for  _anything_ since he’s woken up in this brave new world. Tony convulses. Steve sees someone try to dart forward but he’s stopped. 

 

“Stop it!” Peter yells in anguish. “You’re hurting him!”

 

“It might save him! It might…It  _might._ Right, Steve?” Rhodey asks.

 

Steve can’t look away to answer Rhodey’s question. Tony’s looking at him,  _straight_ at him. Steve can’t breath. There’s so  _much_ in that one look. He feels like David and Goliath at the same time. He wants to crawl into a hole and never come out because no amounts of repentance could make himself forgive himself for putting Tony through this pain. But if it means that Tony will live…

 

If it means that this is  _one_ promise Steve will get to keep…

 

It’ll be okay.

 

Tony  _screams_.

 

His back arches and he  _screams._ That sound is going to haunt him till he’s dead. Steve knows this. He didn’t think the human body was  _capable_ of producing a sound so agonized and hurt. If he’d tried that, Steve’s sure he’d have torn his vocal chords.

 

As it is, the orange glow engulfs Tony. It looks like he’s on fire. Like a phoenix. Pepper cries out Tony’s name but he can’t hear her. His body collapses, like a puppet whose wires have been cut. They all jerk forward as one to grab him but they’re all too late.

 

Extremis’ orange glow begins to fade slowly. As he blinks the spots away, Steve looks down at Tony and realizes…

 

“He’s breathing,” Rhodey says wonderingly. “He’s  _breathing_!”

 

Steve stares at Tony’s face, taking in the healed burn marks, the gentle rise and fall of his chest, the soft flutter of his eyelashes.

 

_He’s alive!_

 

News travels around them like wildfire, concerned murmurs turning to raucous cheers and celebrations. Pepper buries her face in Tony’s left hand and sobs, shoulders shaking and shaking and shaking. Steve reaches over to touch her. She turns and flings herself at him. They hit the ground together. Steve blinks up at the dark clouds hanging overhead and realizes that Pepper’s thanking him. Over and over again.

 

He curls his arms around her armored body and tells her, “I promised him.”

 

A stupid-happy wide grin pulls his lips open when he can  _hear_ Tony breathing.  _They’d done it. They’d done it!_

 

 _I saved him_.

 

Steve squeezes his eyes shut and laugh-sobs. “We did it, Tony. Together.”

 

–-

 

“It’s a side effect I’m willing to live with,” Tony’s saying he taps the RT-node on his chest. “And I’ve still got one good arm so that’s something.”

 

“It’s temporary,” Dr. Cho tells him. “Until you’ve regained your strength. Consider it a personal life-support system specifically attuned to you. Until the radiation poisoning you gained from using the gauntlet is eliminated, you’re going to need that.”

 

Standing behind Tony, Steve can’t see his expression. But he sees the twitch her words birth in Tony. “It’s not…gonna…”

 

“Morgan and Pepper will be fine. Don’t worry about it.” Dr. Cho smiles at him. “I’ve got another meeting to attend. I’ll get back to you about your new prosthetic in a few days. Sound good?”

 

“You’re the best, doc,” Tony gives her a short wave with his left arm. 

 

The hologram goes out with a wink. They’ve both got a clear, unobstructed view of Peter giving Morgan a piggyback ride across the lawn. Steve smiles at the sight, feeling in a rare happy way. 

 

He wonders what the pair are talking about when Tony quietly says, “I can’t believe you kept it.”

 

Blinking, Steve looks down at Tony. The man has shifted in his seat. He’s turned half-way, left arm resting on the back of the couch while his right stays curled tight against his side. He’s still pale and thin but he’s  _alive_. And there’s a peculiar look in his eye that makes Steve wants to squirm.

 

“I’m sorry?” Steve can’t help but hedge.

 

“The RT. I can’t….”

 

 _Ah_. Here’s a conversation he hadn’t been looking forward to. Steve hopes he’s not blushing when he looks back up out the window and mumbles, “Of course I kept it.”

 

“ _Why_?” Tony asks. The naked curiosity in his voice is…again, Steve wants to squirm. It’s like being asked by a friend who he  _likes_ from the girls in his class. It’s too personal and embarrassing. But he owes it to Tony.

 

Steve bites down on the urge to scrub the back of his neck. Instead he exhales shortly. And looks down to meet Tony’s gaze. “It was your heart. You gave it to me and…I couldn’t…  _not_ …try to fix it.”

 

He’s given away too much. Steve knows it. But he’s held this in for so long. He can’t…he wants Tony to know. It’s being selfish again and God dammit. Sure he’d said he was gonna stop being selfish but. But…he’s only human.

 

Tony’s brown eyes go  _wide_. He blinks up at Steve and all Steve would like to do is kiss that startled expression away. It’s beguiling and sweet and…everything he can’t have. 

 

Steve looks away. Back outside where Pepper has joined Peter and Morgan. Morgan’s excitedly chattering away while Pepper smiles indulgently and Peter’s failing to hide his winces every time Morgan’s heels kick him in the chest. 

 

“I never thought…” Tony’s whisper may as well be a shout what with the way it makes Steve flinch. “How long Steve?”

 

He shrugs helplessly. He’s never been able to identify the  _when_. Or the how…he knows the why of it. But he doubts that’s what Tony’s going to ask.

 

Steve knows how this is going to go. Tony’s going to apologize. Tell Steve it’s not him. Steve will nod in resignation because of course. This is what his life is. Missed chances and opportunities because he didn’t have the courage at the right time to-

 

“You know,” Tony begins tentatively. Steve thinks,  _here we go_. “Me and Pepper made this list years ago. We’d just starting dating and…we got tipsy one night and started talking about people who we’d be open to having a threesome with. It was supposed to be… i don’t know.  _Fun_.”

 

Well this isn’t…where is this conversation even going?

 

Steve stares in bewilderment at Tony, who stares back, eyes glinting keenly. “We both write our lists and then we exchanged them. Want to take a guess who’s name showed up on both?”

 

The urge to crack a joke to lighten the mood is high. Tremendously high. He wants to say Thor. He wants to ask Kim Kardashian. He wonders if it’s-

 

“You.”

 

It’s like a punch to the chest, the impact of that one softly spoken word. Steve needs to dig his hands into the couch to stay steady. He stares at his white knuckles, twitching when he sees Tony’s hand creeping forward to squeeze his fingers. 

 

“We both…” Tony stops and tries again, less tentative hope in his voice and more firmness. “Stay with us.”

 

“I  _can’t_.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“It wouldn’t be fair. To either of you.”

 

Tony’s fingers creep up to his wrist and stroke the skin there. It’s sending cool tingles racing up and down his spine and Steve wants to melt into the floor. “I’ve been in love with you since I was a kid. Pepper’s had a crush on you since the time you painted a picture of her mom for her birthday. Besides. I want to be fair to  _you_  too.”

 

Fuck. When’s the last time… Has anyone ever…

 

His strength breaks. He bows under the weight of his hopes, his fears, his anxiety, and hides his face into the back of Tony’s hand. 

 

“Hey, hey,” Tony whispers, turning his palm to touch Steve’s face. “Was it something I said?”

 

Steve laughs, wet and wild. “Yeah. Kinda.”

 

He follows the gentle touch that urges him to look up. Steve peers up into Tony’s smiling face, still so handsome despite the burn marks. “We’ll figure it out. We always do.”

 

With a hard sniffle, Steve finds himself nodding. “I trust you.”

 

Tony grins and pats Steve’s cheek before he pushes himself up to his feet. “Alright. Let’s go see if Clint hasn’t totally fucked up the barbecue.”

 

“Natasha wouldn’t let him.”

 

“Not if she got distracted by Barnes. Old flames can be tricky like that. Come over here and give me a hand,” Tony waves his good hand at Steve.

 

Happy to comply, Steve hurries around the couch and stands next to Tony, an arm around the shorter man’s right side. “Take it easy okay?”

 

“Yeah, yeah, mother hen. I’ll be fine. I want my cheeseburger and I want it now.”


End file.
